About 1000 female Nigerian pilgrims are still detained
by Saudi authorities even as the two countries are still involved in “high
level diplomatic talks” to resolve the impasse, Daily Trust learnt last night.
However, high level sources hinted last night that the
federal government is trying to sort out the issue through the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, even as the House of Representatives resolved yesterday to
probe the issue.
“A letter signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs has
already been delivered to the Saudi authorities over the issue. We don’t know
whether they will accept it,” the source who is involved with the issue told
Daily Trust last night.
Investigations revealed that apart from the initial 400
pilgrims who arrived at the holy land on board flight 17 last Sunday, 600
additional female pilgrims on flights 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22, from Katsina, Kano
and Zamfara states were also detained at the airport on arrival.
The female pilgrims were detained on arrival when they
couldn’t produce individual maharram, that is, the approved male companion
accompanying them on the trip, usually a husband, father or brother, demanded
by the Saudis.
But the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON)’s
Commissioner of Operations, Alhaji Muhammad Abdullahi Mukhtar told our reporter
yesterday that the it is not true that the pilgrims couldn’t produce muharram.
He said the State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards (SMPWB) “qualify and identify
as muharram of female pilgrims. And that has been the case for so many
decades.”
He said that the situation is so confusing that “the
Saudis randomly select flights to screen and detain.”
“All the 10 flights that landed in Medina were allowed
into the country without any incidence. Also, flights 23, 24 and 25 were not
touched at all,” he said.
Mukhtar wondered why only Nigerian pilgrims were
selected for this treatment by the Saudi authorities. “In fact, there is no
such issue in the memorandum of understanding signed between Nigeria and Saudi
Arabia,” he said.
He said that it was not true that the first two Max air
flights conveying Sokoto and Jigawa pilgrims on Sunday “were intercepted
because only women were aboard.”
“Look at the manifest, all our flights carry both men
and women,” he said.
Another top official said that the Saudis’ action is
uncalled for because the fear of pilgrims refusing to come back home is no
longer tenable.
“Since the introduction of e-passport by NAHCON
adequately addressed the cases of pilgrims staying back in the holy land. In
2011, only 20 pilgrims absconded.
When did you see Saudi plane landing in Nigeria with
deportees? The situation has been drastically addressed,” he said.
Reports indicate also that the pilgrims are being
detained in deplorable condition. One of the detained pilgrims, Bilkisu Nasidi,
who spoke to the BBC Focus on Africa programme on Monday, said that the women
were being held in “terrible condition.”
She said there were about 400 of them (as at Monday)
and they were being held in very unsuitable circumstance. She said they had
been sleeping on the floor for three days, and an average of 200 women share
four toilets.
She denied that all of them were without Maharram or
guardian and that some of such guardians have opted not to leave the airport in
order to give them some comfort.
“If they don’t want us to go into Saudi Arabia let them
take us home, we are tired,” Bilkisu Nasidi said.
The Nigerian Consul in Jeddah, Ambassador Abdullahi
Umar had told BBC Hausa Service on Monday that the Nigerian officials had been
providing food and toiletries for the detained pilgrims, adding that a formal letter
had been delivered to the Saudis and the issue was being taken up with the
Governor of Makkah region, who would decide on the matter.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives yesterday
commenced an investigation into the circumstance leading to the detention of
the women whose number has now risen to about 1000 by the Saudi Arabian
authorities in Jeddah.
Adopting a motion on matter of urgent national
importance sponsored by Deputy Minority Leader Rep. Suleiman Kawu Sumaila
(ANPP, Kano), the House mandated its Committee on Foreign Affairs to interface
with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and report back today.
In his motion, Sumaila expressed shock that the
affected pilgrims were people who applied for Saudi Arabian visas, and were
approved by its embassy without such rules made known to them.
He said that the action of the Saudi authorities
negated the long standing understanding between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia
on Hajj performance.
Also, Rep. Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje (PDP,Abia) who chairs
the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said her committee was
interfacing with officials of the foreign ministry to secure pilgrims
release.
However, Rep. Alhassan Ado Doguwa (PDP, Kano) blamed
the Nigerian ambassador to Saudi Arabia for treating the issue with laxity by
claiming that “he is on top of the situation” whereas “it is the situation that
is on top of him.”
Meanwhile a Saudi embassy official in Abuja told Daily
Trust in confidence last night that officials of the two countries were making
diplomatic efforts to sort out the matter and they will address the press when
the matter is settled.